Following the Shattering
by CyberMage
Summary: Harry’s a rookie Auror that’s been through a lot with the Ministry. After series of stunning victories fighting Voldemort, the Light is handed a terrible set back when Death Eaters launch an attack on the Aurors that literally brings the agency to i


Following the Shattering By CyberMage  
  
Summary: Harry's a rookie Auror that's been through a lot with the Ministry. After series of stunning victories fighting Voldemort, the Light is handed a terrible set back when Death Eaters launch an attack on the Aurors that literally brings the agency to its knees.  
  
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and related characters are the property of J.K. Rowling, AOL Time Warner, and other parties involved their creation. There is no claim of ownership on any of said characters. Use of Harry Potter, etc. is in accordance with Public Fair Uses policies. Characters not copyrighted bysaid owners are property of CyberMage  
  
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Fighting back the tears and hard sweat, Jimmy and Harry ran down a flight stairs to escape the encroaching the fire blasts and shouts. The Boy-Who- Lived was once again trying to prove that he could and would live. Harry, just a year fresh out of the Auror training academy, was already being pushed to the limits of his training and natural abilities.  
  
"Potter get to the second level port key office! You'll have to get the hell out of here. The Death Eaters will be here any minute. I'll try to hold them off and meet you there in five. Now go!" yelled Jimmy Sandoval, Auror station chief of Manchester.  
  
"You can't hold them off by yourselves.!" yelled back Harry,  
  
"No 'buts' about it. Now go! That's an order."  
  
Without looking back, Harry ran down the hallway that led to the port key transit room. This was the room where all missions started and ended. Now it would his only way out. Anti-apparition charms were in effect, just like those at Hogwarts and other Ministry buildings. Smoke began to invade the room as the fire on the first floor began to spread and merge with the ones coming down. Coughing and breathing his duty robes, Harry stumbled into the port key room. Looking around the rather large room filled with an eclectic mix of various Muggle artifacts, Harry fumbled around one of the lockers and revealed an old Muggle leather glove.  
  
"Wonder where this goes?" Harry thought in hazy confusion. Looking at the sooty sign above it, Harry deduced that it lead to a Ministry building in London. "Perfect," thought Harry, "Now all I have to do is wait for Chief."  
  
With that the door to the office was shattered by a man flying backwards into it. Wood shards and metal pieces flew in all directions. Chief Jimmy Sandoval lay unconscious on the ground with a pained expression on his face People in dark hoods could be seen as a faint outline in the hallway. Harry jumped away from the locker to his downed leader  
  
"Chief! Chief! You alright, mate?" hollered Harry, waving his hands and checking the vitals. He got no response but at least the chief was still alive. Harry could hear the murmurs from the Death Eaters.  
  
"Well I dare say that is the last of them before we can get Potter. Our Lord will be pleased," hissed one,  
  
"Look, through the smoke I think that's Potter. Get him," hissed another.  
  
Letting his instinct flow through him Harry pulled out his wand and summoned the port key to him. Clutching his chief's hand, the glove flew into his hand instantly the sound of wind whirled around them and they were gone. Just as the Death Eaters ran into the room, they saw Potter dematerialize in a shimmer of blue light and disappear from the room.  
  
"Our Lord will not be so pleased now Sanders," mumbled one of the Death Eaters. The Death Eater that seemed to be in charge walked around the room not responding to his subordinate. He saw the empty locker that Harry had taken out his port key from.  
  
"Not to worry so much, Goyle. We will find him and when we do he will not escape so readily next time.," Sanders declared calmly. He gave an evil glint of knowledge and began to cackle in the burning building. "Now get back to work! We have a building to destroy before we leave."  
  
The Boy-Who-Lived continued to feel the magnetic pull of the port key as he transited to a Ministry building. The silent gush of wind calmed his nerves as it never had before. He remembered his first time using the port key the summer before his fourth-year at Hogwarts. The trip to Quidditch World Cup had been a harrowing one to say the least. Being jammed between twelve other people on a tiny port key was an experience he did not want to go through again. The next thing Harry saw was a port key office just like the one in Manchester. However there was something amiss about the whole place and Harry could sense it in the air.  
  
"Activius lancium!" Harry whispered to his wand. The wand began change from a short stick into a long pole, a magical staff or lance depending on whom one asks. Lances were only used when wands couldn't provide the necessary punch. Harry liked to stay on the safe side. He readied his lance and crept toward the door. The moonlight shined through the small windows in the office. Traffic in central London was horrendous as usual and the cacophony permeated into every crevice of the district. Harry flinched when he thought he saw a shadow pass through his periphery vision  
  
"Death Eaters," cursed Harry, walking toward the window.  
  
"You're quite wrong. Drop your lance and keep your hands where I can see them," commanded an oddly familiar voice behind him.  
  
Harry froze at the sound of the voice. Where had he heard that voice before? With lightening reflexes Harry turned around and brought the bladed edge of the lance down upon his assailant. His attack was rebuffed with loud clang of metal against metal as his assailant moved to block the downward sweep. The resonating sound of lance against lance echoed through the moon lit room. A loud and rancorous fight began in the port key room. The loud clang of metal and sparks of spells emanated from the room.  
  
"Who are you?" inquired Harry.  
  
"Relampagus!" yelled Harry's assailant. "I could ask you the same thing." A condensed bolt of blue-white lightening shot at Harry. He ducked into a corner behind a file cabinet. The cabinet exploded upon impact with the bolt of energy.  
  
"Expelliarmus!" hollered Potter from behind the cabinet. The battle continued on for a good five minutes until Harry lost his lance and was pinned under the sharp point of his assailant's.  
  
"We could have just done this the easy way," said Harry's assailant still in the shadows. At that moment it all the voice came to him like a speeding train: Ginny!  
  
"Stupefy!" Harry's world went black. 


End file.
